If you’re involved in online commerce, social media or advertising, chances are that you’re collecting information on the demographics that you target. While this is a longstanding practice in business, never before has it represented the reputational risk that it does today.

The information customers forfeit to companies can be cobbled together to provide an alarmingly detailed picture of their lives, spending habits and interests. The protection of that information is no longer a nice-to have; it represents a reputational obligation essential to corporate survival.

A new study from Pew Research, “Public Perceptions of Privacy and Security in the Post-Snowden Era,” provides some startling numbers to support the idea that Americans are concerned about their privacy.